The Suicide Squad is always good for action filled, bad language riddled and a bad attitude good time. The team full of the who’s who of DC bad guys, has shot to the forefront of the DC Universe, with James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. The highly anticipated and now delayed Kill The Justice League game from Rocksteady. Now comes a new Black Label series…Suicide Squad: Blaze. One that is all the kinds of perfect you can almost now expect from the Black Label series.
DC Comics
Written By: Simon Spurrier
Art By: Aaron Campbell
Colors By: Jordie Bellaire
story
Black Label gives the opportunity to tell “other” stories. More self contained ones. With Blaze, it is 100% not like any of the other Suicide Squad books in print right now. And that is a breath of glorious Belle Reve air. Where Blaze succeeds (one of many ways) is how fresh the story feels. Its not as simple as Waller and team going on a mission and going from point A to point B and so on. The team, the actual Suicide Squad team is a secondary character in Blaze. During the first 25 pages or so, I was a little worried that this formula wouldn’t work. I was concerned that the idea behind the book might be to far from what has made the Suicide Squad work so well in the media we have seen from them. But I was glad to be proved wrong by the end of the book. The inclusion of the new “members” and specifically with Michael Van Zandt made the story work so well.
Michael and the new “members” have an objective that was to much for the Suicide Squad, even they said no to it. The idea behind what Blaze is, is original and well thought out in this first book. For Harley Quinn and King Shark to say no to a mission from Waller? That says a lot. The first book is overly informative. Not in a good or bad way, it just is. Spurrier packs a lot of information into this first book. In saying that though it never felt like a chore to read. It never felt like exposition or an information dump. The Black Label oversized prestige format to the book also helped for ease of read and easier to follow the story as well.
Art
Jordie. Bellaire. Jordie Bellaire. JORDIE BELLAIRE!!!! Okay, okay, back up a bit. The art in Suicide Squad: Blaze is beyond good. Its beyond brilliant. Its just beyond. Pencils from Aaron Campbell are static yet pristine. Character designs are outstanding and big. King Shark is a humongous beast of a character that is threatening. Peacemaker is straight up John Cena. The Suicide Squad members we do see look how they do if you were to close your eyes and picture the prefect team in your head. Campbells work on this first book is perfect.
But I would be remise if I didn’t mention and dedicate a good part of the art section to the intensity, the radiance that is the colors from Jordie Bellaire. The absolute best colorist working in comics today as far as this reviewer is concerned. Bellaire brings their work to the Suicide Squad and with they bring neon, noir, and warm and cool colors to the table. The pallet on each page is vast, and overall the book is colored with a sense of grim and grit. On the flip side colors pop off the page. Red is deep and full. Yellows are bright. The colors are everything when the action ramps up and there are multiple characters on the page. As always, the over sized format only compliments the colors from Bellaire.
Overall Enjoyment
Black Label has the IT factor. It brings together the best creators and gives them the opportunity to tell a different and singular story that only benefits readers. Suicide Squad: Blaze is a perfect book. Its story is fresh and telling, the art is precise, chaotic and deep.
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